Plan B is your Plan A, or my 2 bits on shaves and haircuts

Plan B is your first choice.

Congrats to all the winners of this year’s Best of Kelowna, but a special shoutout to Casey Donovan, Tim Davenport and their crew at Plan B Headquarters.

You voted them Best Salon for a second straight year. Plan B's Casey Harder (silver), “Heavy D” (bronze) and Jenna Johnson all cracked the top 10 in voting for best men’s stylist. Johnson also won silver for best women’s stylist.

The haircut you see in my mugshot came straight from Plan B. Donovan was one of the first people I met after moving here in 2006. The “original” Plan B was half the size when it opened and featured just a few chairs, but quickly absorbed the entire main space of his location when the neighbours moved out, perhaps unnerved by the death metal, swearing and flying scissors happening next door.

Donovan’s success proves that if you stick true to yourself, the victories are sure to follow. Casey has big plans for his future, and it will be fun to watch what comes next.

This being my first year experiencing Best of Kelowna from the “inside,” I’ve determined one thing for sure: you people will vote for annnnyythiiing.

The best part about Best of Kelowna is the staff here, Csek Creative and our colleagues at Bell Media and Black Press have very little input into what’s a “Best.” You nominate, and you vote, on everything from best cup of coffee to best funeral home.

Some other interesting notes: BNA Brewing continues its clever plans to take over the world. Just barely a year old, it captured best brewery, best pub and best hotspot. Not bad for celebrating its one-year anniversary six days ago.

One thing I will pitch for next year, though, is a “critics’ choice” award. Yes, once we have our finallists, I’m going to personally visit and offer up my wholly uninformed, uninvited opinion on best burger, best bar, best pepperoni slice and best two-scoops in a waffle cone.

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Thanks to everyone who reached out to me last week after taking up my position here at KelownaNow. I’m halfway through my second week as managing editor.

Alex Miller at Visland Media was kind enough to drop by, and I received notes of congratulations from Lenetta Parry at the Central Okanagan Food Bank, Big White’s Brad Parsons, Magda Kapp at BrainTrust Canada, AM1150’s Phil Johnson, Joshua Desoyner at Kelowna Art Gallery, Coun. Maxine DeHart and Coun. Ryan Donn (among many others).

Of course, getting mentioned in “Straight from DeHart” was a true sign that I’d made it.

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You all seem to love what KelownaNow is doing, and I’m hoping to put my nearly 20 years of writing and editing to good use here. I have some big ideas that I’m confident you will enjoy.

The 20 years was for newspapers, mostly, but also some online work. If you Google my byline, you’ll see my work for Globalpost.com was syndicated on websites across the United States, including CNN and Slate (toot, toot!).

Wait, whose horn was that?

At any rate, I only mention that (again?) because the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released some interesting data this week.

I won’t bore you with too many numbers, but here are some important ones: 197,800 vs. 183,200.

The former is how many Americans work in online publishing and broadcasting, while the latter signifies those in print. The bureau measured those numbers in March, and it marked the first time in U.S. history there were more online than in print.

Canadians don’t keep that much detail, but suffice it to say we’re likely following similar trends.

It’s a sad, but obvious state of affairs. Nobody in this business wishes ill will against our colleagues in print, but it’s also a telling sign of the times (and the New York Times, you have to suppose). What you want as readers is simple: everything.

Media has to encompass great writing, stunning photography, compelling video, relevant advertising campaigns, engaging social media and dedicated community involvement. You get bonus marks for being free, too.

It’s something we’re doing well here and the reason I chose to KelownaNow to further my career.

Well, that and those free burgers.

Dave Trifunov is KelownaNow's managing editor. Email dave@kelownanow.com.